The two biggest names in world canoe slalom paddling in 2023 once again underlined their class with gold-medal winning performances on day two of finals at the International Canoe Federation World Cup in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Saturday.

Australia’s Jessica Fox won an incredible fourth gold medal for the season with victory in the women’s K1, while Czech Jiri Prskavec won his second gold for 2023 with a win in the men’s K1.

There was also a second silver medal for the weekend for Ukraine’s Viktoriia Us, and a bronze medal to follow on from yesterday’s gold medal for Germany’s Elena Lilik.

But it was the three-time Olympian Fox who once again stole the show, bouncing back from a disappointing C1 final on Friday to lock away back-to-back K1 gold medals. It also continued Fox’s love affair with the Tacen course, where she has won gold every time she has raced there since 2013.

The Tokyo C1 gold medalist said she is looking forward to a break.

“I think I have a kind of love-hate relationship with Tacen,” Fox said.

“I can’t be mad at the course today, but I definitely was feeling it yesterday. It’s definitely been amazing to come back and race here, the crowds are always really great to be in front of, and the course is always challenging.

“We’ve had three weeks of back-to-back racing, which is quite tough, physically demanding and mentally taxing. This new program is pretty challenging because there are no rest days, so I’m looking to a few days off.

Fox finished in 96.22, well clear of US on a time of 98.91, with Lilik just 0.01 seconds back in third.

The women’s event was not without drama. Reigning Olympic champion Ricarda Funk had a run she would rather forget, not progressing to the final, while Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska posted the quickest raw time of 95.06 in the final, but had two gate touches and four seconds of penalties to drop down to fourth.

Jiri Prskavec had never won a world cup gold medal outside his Prague home course before breaking through in Tacen last year. On Saturday he showed the connection with one of the most challenging courses on the ICF world circuit remained, finishing more than four seconds clear of teammate Vit Prindis.

“Last year I was saying this was only once in a lifetime to get such a good run in Tacen, and now it is for the second time, so it’s twice in a lifetime,” Prskavec said.

“It’s been a really nice start to the season. In my final I just flew through and jumped on a really good wave and kept it until the end pretty much, so I was really happy about my run.”

It’s back-to-back gold medals for Prskavec after his K1 win in Prague last weekend, and he also has a C1 bronze in his debut season in the canoe.

Prindis had a two second penalty for a gate touch, but his raw time was still 2.44 seconds behind the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist. Austria’s Felix Oschmautz won the bronze.

The men’s and women’s kayak cross will wrap up the third world cup on Sunday.

RESULTS

WOMEN’S K1

1. FOX Jessica  (AUS) 96.22 (0 seconds in penalties)
2. US Viktoriia (UKR) 98.91 (0)
3. LILIK Elena   (GER) 98.92 (0)

MEN’S K1

1. PRSKAVEC Jiri          (CZE) 85.02 (0)
2. PRINDIS Vit              (CZE) 89.46 (0)
3. OSCHMAUTZ Felix (AUT) 90.05 (0)

Exclusive coverage of all the racing can be found on the ICF’s Recast platform.

Find out more about the venue here.

Explore Slovenia

The Slovenian home fans who took the afternoon off to watch their canoe slalom heroes in action were not left disappointed, after the host nation picked up a gold and two bronze medals in a thrilling afternoon of International Canoe Federation World Cup action in Tacen, Ljubljana.

Luka Bozic brought the crowd to its feet when he took the gold in the men’s C1, with teammate and Olympic gold medalist Benjamin Savsek taking the bronze. American Zachary Lokken split the pair to win his first ever world cup medal.

In the women’s C1 Germany’s former world champion Elena Lilik stormed to victory by more than three seconds over Ukraine’s Viktoriia Us, with local paddler Eva Alina Hocevar winning her first ever senior world cup medal in third.

The win for Bozic came after a disappointing start to the season for the five-time world cup gold medalist. He missed medals at both Augsburg and Prague, and was feeling the pressure going into Friday’s final.

“It’s always really nice to win at home. I’m happy because in the last two world cups I didn’t feel really good, so after today I think I’m going to be more calm and attaching for the next races,” Bozic said.

“Of course I was nervous. I was so nervous before the semi-final. Every time when we race here at home it is very special for us. I think I made a good run today, which is the most important thing for the future.”

Elena Lilik won K1 gold at the opening world cup of the season in Augsburg, and on Friday added a C1 gold to her collection. Her main rival, Australian Olympic champion Jessica Fox, had already posted a 50-second penalty for a missed gate, which ruled her out of a medal.

But Lilik said she was unaware of Fox’s mistake, and was just trying to replicate her fast run in the semi-final.

“I didn’t hear anything at the start line, I was just by myself and focussed,” Lilik said.

“It’s crazy, I saw the time and I wondered how I even went faster.

“Prague was perhaps a bit of a wake up call for me, that I needed to do something a little bit different. I was very hungry, and felt really excited at the start line.”

Lilik posted a winning time in the final of 101.97, with Us posting a time of 105.27, which included a two-second penalty. Hocevar’s maiden world cup medal came in a time of 108.00.

RESULTS

WOMEN’S C1

1. LILIK Elena                (GER) 101.97 (0 seconds penalties)
2. US Viktoriia              (UKR) 105.37 (2)
3. HOCEVAR Eva Alina (SLO) 108.00 (0)

MEN’S C1

1. BOZIC Luka           (SLO)  90.29 (0)
2. LOKKEN Zachary  (USA) 91.43 (0)
3. SAVSEK Benjamin (SLO) 93.14 (2)

Exclusive coverage of all the racing can be found on the ICF’s Recast platform.

Find out more about the venue here.

Explore Slovenia

Kajakaši in kajakašice so opravili kvalifikacije na tekmi svetovnega pokala v slalomu na divjih vodah v Ljubljani. V sobotni polfinale so se uvrstili vsi trije Slovenci, Peter Kauzer, Lan Tominc in Žiga Lin Hočevar, prav tako so bile uspešne vse tri Slovenke, Eva Terčelj, Eva Alina Hočevar in Ajda Novak.

Eva Terčelj je brez dotika vratc končala kvalifikacije na drugem mestu in v sobotni polfinale zre z dobrimi občutki. „Zadovoljna sem, kako mi je uspelo najti hitrost in kako sem uspela odveslati to vožnjo, na tem lahko gradim in grem z dobrimi občutki naprej,“ je dejala.

O pričakovanjih glede sobotne tekme sicer tretjeuvrščena na lestvici ICF ni želela govoriti: „Zagotovo si vsak želi priti čim dlje, vendar se s tem ne obremenjujem. Predvsem želim uživati v vožnjah in hitrosti, da bom na koncu zadovoljna.“

Ajda Novak je na kvalifikacije prišla po preboleli bolezni in je vesela, da se ji je uspelo v polfinale uvrstiti že s prvo vožnjo. „Nisem pri močeh, ta teden sem bila bolna, tako da zdaj lahko malo več počivam,“ je dejala. Uvrstitev v polfinale jo je pravzaprav nekoliko presenetila, saj se je dvakrat dotaknila vratc, „a je zadoščalo za uvrstitev naprej, tako da je vse v redu“.

Eva Alina Hočevar, ena od današnjih polfinalistk v kanuju, je bila v prvi vožnji 22. in je morala še enkrat na progo.

Hitrejša od Eve Terčelj je bila le Avstralka Jessica Fox, ki je tudi favoritka za današnjo finalno preizkušnjo v kanuju, na tretjem mestu je kvalifikacije končala Francozinja Eva Pietracha.

Med slovenskimi kanuisti je bil najuspešnejši Tominc na petem mestu, Hočevar je zasedel deseto mesto, Kauzer pa 19.

Slednji z nastopom ni bil preveč zadovoljen. „Edini plus je, da sem se po prvi vožnji uvrstil naprej,“ je bil realen. Kot je dodal, ga je pri četrtih vratcih odneslo, kar mu je pobralo zelo veliko moči in zadnjih nekaj vratc ni mogel več veslati. „Tako je to v Tacnu – če ti čoln ne steče, se lahko ubijaš in poskušaš vse, pa ne bo šlo,“ je povzel, a vseeno ohranil nekaj optimizma: „Upam, da sem tega Jokerja izkoristil, pa da bo jutri dosti boljše.“

Manj težav je imel s progo Tominc. „Vožnja je bila stabilna, hitra, imela je vse lastnosti, da je na koncu čas v redu,“ je dejal. Malo je odvisno tudi od sreče, je priznal in dodal, da gre na progo vedno z velikim spoštovanjem. „Se mi zdi, da je to nekaj, kar je treba narediti, da na koncu sestaviš vožnjo tako, kot je treba.“ Pred sobotnim polfinalom se ne obremenjuje, „cilj je sestaviti vožnjo, s katero bom zadovoljen, pa dati vse od sebe“.

Med moškimi je bil najhitrejši v kvalifikacijah Italijan Giovanni de Gennaro pred Čehom Jakubom Krejcijem in Francozom Leom Vuittonom.

Dekleta bodo v soboto s polfinalnimi vožnjami začela ob 8.30, fantje pa ob 9.35.